SOCIAL SUPPORT OF THE POPULATION OF VOLYN AND RIVNE REGIONS BY LOCAL COMMITTEES TO HELP IN THE PERIOD OF THE NAZI OCCUPATION

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to investigate the problem of the social support for the population, who lived during the Nazi occupation in Volyn and Rivne regions by local aid committees. The methodology of the research is based on the general scientific and special historical methods. The work is based on the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity and the problem chronological approach. The scientific novelty is that for the first time on the basis of the archival documents and the press of that period, the basic principles of auxiliary institutions’ functioning in the territory of Volyn and Rivne regions were investigated comprehensively: purpose, tasks, structure, directions of activity, sources of financing, relations with the occupying power. The Conclusions. It has been traced that the first organizations of this type began to appear in the region in the beginning of the 1941 and operated until January 1944. The support/ auxiliary committees network, which actively cooperated with each other, branched out sufficiently. The Local District Self-help Institutions coordinated the work of all committees, which exercised their powers through the District, City and Village Committees and were funded through: the self-taxation by employees of local institutions and organizations, the educational institutions, the voluntary donations, the membership dues, the membership fees, etc. In addition to Ukrainian, there were Polish aid committees. It has been investigated that these non-governmental organizations have taken care of the orphanages, kindergartens, schools, homes for the disabled, homeless shelters, maintained dining rooms, and organized kitchens. They provided food, clothing, heating materials, medicines, funds for those who needed it most – the sick, the widows, the orphans, the elderly, the single, the poor, the incapacitated, the prisoners’ of war, the families whose members were taken to work in Germany and more. It has been proved that the activity of the institutions was controlled by the occupying power.